


cobalt

by alateni



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: But also, Faerie!AU, M/M, Multi, another OT4 fic, band!au, canon complaint kind of, fantasy!au, i don't even know what this is tbh, look at that, not really at the same time, who can stop me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 00:10:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alateni/pseuds/alateni
Summary: Dropping his hand to play with the strings of the other male’s hoodie, Minghao quiets down again, observing, with a tilted head, the slight rise and fall of the chest in front of him. If he sits silently enough, Minghao can hear the pounding of two hearts.Alternatively: Minghao just wants to help but Junhui, Wonwoo, and Mingyu seem insistent on letting him do anything.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely sure what this is exactly but the though wouldn't leave my head. It's inspired slightly by [Junhui's](http://hyperactivehoshi.tumblr.com/post/158555869173/biggest-mood-on-the-face-of-this-earth-pt-2) (and I think Seokmin's?) swollen [eyes](https://twitter.com/toxicwoozi/status/843087990129868800) that popped up lately. Also yeah... this was the best picture I could find (mostly 'cause I'm lazy).

Minghao closes the door behind him slowly, not wanting to wake the other inhabitant in the room up. He slinks closer to the bed, skillfully and silently padding over various clothes and stuffs littered around the floor, before making it to the foot of the bed. Holding his breath, Minghao looks over his shoulder at the door, trying to judge if anyone else noticed him slipping in, before moving towards the side of the mattress. Leaning down as to not hit his head from the bunk above, Minghao lightly places his hands on the blanket, wincing slightly when the springs creak, before continuing his movements. He crawls onto the bed almost soundlessly, and settles in comfortably beside the other body.

Eyes trailing what isn’t hidden by the blanket, Minghao can’t help but bring his fingers and caress the other male’s face softly. His fingertips trail over the bridge of his nose, poking at his lips softly as the Chinese male giggles, before the hand drops lower and Minghao is outlining the defined collarbones and Adam’s apple. Dropping his hand to play with the strings of the other male’s hoodie, Minghao quiets down again, observing, with a tilted head, the slight rise and fall of the chest in front of him. If he sits silently enough, Minghao can hear the pounding of two hearts.

Holding his breath as he concentrates in on the sound, Minghao waits and listens as they synchronize, beats matching so perfectly that he begins to hear only one noise, before opening his eyes and breathing again. Deciding that he was sufficiently focused enough, Minghao leans over once again. He closes his eyes slightly, before opening them, iris now coloured a pretty cobalt colour, and reaches forwards. The slender male’s hand begins to glow a dark blue – matching the colour in his eyes – and Minghao concentrates on keeping it contained on the tip of his finger. Moving forwards, Minghao presses the finger onto the slumbering male’s eye.

The light pulses temporarily, glowing almost too bright to look at, before dimming down to a very faint glow within milliseconds – almost too quick for the human eye to catch. Minghao follows the actions of the light carefully however, keeping track of how many times it pulsed or how large the wavelengths were, before pressing his finger against the eye again, moving this time to trace around the body part. Just as Minghao is about to lay his palm flat against the eyeball, a hand shoots up and catches Minghao’s wrist. The boy’s eyes open, observing the now glowing Minghao with a slightly sleepy and very much amused face, before he sits up and pushes Minghao’s wrist back gently – causing the shorter boy to stumble backwards, glow fading from his skin though his eyes remain the cobalt shade they had changed into.

“Minghao,” the male speaks, amusedly. Minghao ignores the slight exasperation in his voice, and chooses instead to crawl into the middle of the bed where he can nestle himself in between the older boy’s legs. “What did I say about this?”

“I don’t remember,” Minghao replies, one hand moving up to rub at his eye.

“Do you now?” the boy asks, lips turning downwards into a frown. Minghao pouts at that, not wanting to cause trouble, before hesitatingly nodding – though it was obvious from his guilty posture that he knew exactly what he had been doing.

“But Junhui hyung,” Minghao starts, biting his cheek and blinking quickly, eyes rapidly drying. They were beginning to hurt now, tears welling up in an attempt to sate the burning feeling, but Minghao knew, from past experiences, that it would do nothing. Soon enough the water would dry too, and Minghao would be left to wallow in pain.

“But nothing,” Junhui cuts in, crossing his hands over his chest. “It hurts you, I don’t want you to do it.”

“It would help though,” Minghao leans forwards, blinking a couple tears down his cheeks – which Junhui immediately wipes at with his sleeve. “And it wouldn’t take a lot I promise–”

“ _No_ ,” Junhui growls this time, causing Minghao to flinch. The older boy reaches out, grabbing Minghao by the shoulder, before bringing him in and pressing the other male’s face into his chest. Minghao blinks at that, cheek squished against Junhui’s collarbone, but closes his eyes soon enough. Relishing in the sweet escape of darkness, Minghao sighs contently, knowing this was what Junhui was aiming for. Slowing his breathing as Junhui continues to hold him, Minghao once again hears Junhui and his own heart beating in sync, the melodic sound lulling him into a more relaxed state. The pain behind his eyes is still there, but it was a dull pounding rather than the sharp pain from before. Regardless, Minghao opens his eyes and sits back to stare at Junhui, the older Chinese male frowning when he notes the still blue shade in Minghao’s eyes.

“You never let me do anything,” Minghao frowns. “How am I supposed to practice and get better if you never let me?”

“I’d let you if you didn’t hurt yourself and do such impulsive things,” Junhui replies matter-of-factly. The older boy reaches over, tucking in Minghao’s unruly hair behind his ear and just generally fixing the state of his strands. Minghao preens under the touch, enjoying the way Junhui’s hands brush against his scalp, before the younger boy frowns.

“But I should practice with more practical things,” Minghao points out. “I can’t be dealing with stupid papercuts all my life. Look, if I had gotten more experience before I could have helped Wonwoo hyung when he had–”

“Are you talking about that again?” a deep voice cuts through the room, causing Junhui to cease in his ministrations. Minghao doesn’t turn around, already knowing who the voice belonged to. He had heard Wonwoo’s heart beat even before the older boy had opened the door, and Mingyu’s heart beat was just as strong beside the elder. The two move forwards together, as a unit like they always did, and surrounded Minghao and Junhui on the bed – one on either side.

“I already told you Hao,” Wonwoo says after Minghao nudges Junhui’s hand and the other boy continues to rub at Minghao’s scalp. This time though, Mingyu joins in, though the taller boy focuses more on playing with Minghao’s elf-shaped ears and tinkering with the slender boy’s many earrings. “That even if you could have helped, I wouldn’t let you.”

“That’s not _fair_ ,” Minghao whines now. He points at Junhui’s swollen eye before pouting. “Look, this isn’t even as bad as your acute gastritis, I could fix in within five minutes and be fine after another ten. Trust me.”

“But you’ll be in pain for ten minutes, maybe more,” Mingyu whispers this time, his voice gruff but soothing all the same.

“And Junhui hyung is in pain right now and _has been_ for the past three days. 10 minutes is nothing compared to that,” Minghao insists. “The fans are getting worried as well.”

“Let them worry,” Junhui whispers, leaning his forehead against Minghao’s. The younger boy shivers at the contact, before his gaze immediately travels to the swollen and reddened area around Junhui’s eye. “They’re going to worry anyways. It’s what makes them fans, they care for us and we care for them so we’re just always in a state of worrying over one another.”

“’Don’t get sick!’ they tell us as we finished filming,” Mingyu grins. “’Get home safe!’ we shout at them as they leave afterwards. It’s a mutual thing.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about though,” Minghao scowls.

“But it’s what matters,” Wonwoo chimes in, leaning forwards to place his chin on Minghao’s shoulder. “Listen, even if I let you help me with my acute gastritis the pain would have just travelled to you – that’s how it works Hao. I know, I did research. The fans would still be worrying about you in that time, even if I was recovered.”

“But I heal faster,” Minghao replies, blue eyes shining. He holds his hand up, the appendage glowing a dim blue as he waves it in front of the others. A faint aura follows his hand, lagging by a couple seconds as to leave a trail. “So, I would take probably less than half the time to be better. _That’s_ how it works hyung. I would know, I’m the faerie here.”

“As you’ve told us many times,” Mingyu laughs, meeting Minghao’s glare with an amused stare of his own. The giant let’s out an “oof!” after Minghao quickly jabs at him with his non-glowing hand but Mingyu remains smiling nonetheless.

“Besides,” Minghao continues, biting his lip as Junhui plays with the cuffs of Minghao’s pants absentmindedly. “Less fans would care about me than they do you. The greatest good for the greatest number you know?”

“Utilitarianism only works in theory,” Wonwoo replies. “I mean, it works in life too I guess but that’s not really the greatest way to make decisions.”

“Thanks, you nerd,” Mingyu shoots from his safe spot beside Minghao. Wonwoo sends him a glare, trying to reach over to hit the taller boy only to find that his arms aren’t long enough. Minghao avenges him however, jabbing at Mingyu again with the same hand and in the same spot as before, the pointedly ignores the betrayed look the giant gives him.

“Minghao,” Junhui calls, hands reaching up to hold Minghao’s. As Junhui’s hand covers Minghao’s glowing one, the light intensifies for a second. Flaring with a force that was almost palpable, before it slowly dies out, like a fire that ran out of fire. Junhui massages Minghao’s hands while the light dies down, watching intently as the glow leaves Minghao’s skin and the colour of his hand returns to it’s originally tone. “What did we say about talking like that?”

“To not to,” Mingyu reminds, even though Minghao hasn’t said anything. The look on his face however, is telling. The frown, the stare of disagreement but forced satedness – Minghao didn’t agree with their opinion but he loved them too much to argue.

“Exactly,” Wonwoo chides. “There is no such thing as ‘more fans will care about you’ – the group isn’t complete with all of us. You’re not forgettable, or replaceable, so don’t you dare think we’re going to let you put your health above ours.”

“And we’ve come in a circle,” Junhui smiles victoriously. “Which is why I’m not letting you heal my eye and why Wonwoo dealt with his condition by himself. You’re just as important than we are okay?”

“Fine,” Minghao sighs, deflating under the logical arguments and comforting stares of the other three males. He could only argue and stay strong for so long after all. Though he didn’t exactly agree with them from the bottom of his heart, he could see their point and was trying, really, he was, to understand that popularity comes and goes. It still hurt though, Minghao thinks to himself, when he sees the obvious divide between the number in his fans and the others, but like Wonwoo said, they were a team. His fans and Mingyu’s fans were still fans of Seventeen, and that’s what really mattered – as cheesy and disgusting as Minghao found the sentiment, he couldn’t argue with it’s reasoning.

“Are you going to let these go now?” Mingyu leans forwards and taps the still blue orbs in Minghao’s eyes. “They’re hurting you I know. You can’t maintain them for a long time.”

“And it’s annoying,” Minghao frowns, closing his eyes and tensing up. He hated doing this, mostly because it hurt way more than it did to leave them like that, but just as he was about to lose his courage to change back, he feels a warmth on his body. Wonwoo presses his hand against his back, Mingyu reaches up to play with his hair, and Junhui remains an ever constant presence in front of him, hands trailing up and down Minghao’s thighs comfortingly.

Minghao takes a deep breath, and concentrates once again. He hears the four heartbeats in the room as one, and though he can pick out which one belonged to who, he ignores that and convinces himself that they were one and the same. With that though in mind, Minghao lets out the breath he was holding. The next time he opens his eyes, they’re back to their original dark brown, but Minghao can’t see anything. There’s a sharp, pounding, almost head splitting pain behind his eyes, and even when he closes them everything seems too bright. He feels something slide down his cheeks, and he knows from experience that it’s blood. Light headed and almost paralyzed with pain, Minghao barely feels the caresses from the other males anymore. Still lost in that realm between the human one and the Otherworld.

It happened often when he changed back, not so much when he changed to – the Otherworld was greedy that way. It always wanted you to come, but never to leave. And though Minghao was a fae – half fae to be more exact – it still had a hold on him. He wasn’t like others, who could walk between the two realms easily. He didn’t even have developed powers, at least, not to the extent of others of his kind. Most faeries had one skill they excelled that, whether that be talking to animals, controlling fire, or breathing underwater.

All Minghao could do was take people’s ailments from them and place them upon himself. It seemed a bit backwards, but Minghao was also blessed with almost instantaneous healing. He could recover from a bruise or a cut within minutes, with larger wounds taking hours. Only broken bonds, ripped tendons, or serious injuries took days – but Minghao had never had an injury for longer than a couple of weeks. Such was his skill he supposed, but it came at a price. Because he healed so fast, the pain was intensified by how much faster it healed. Thusly, Minghao never got to exercise his power, at least, not on the people he wanted to protect and heal the most.

“Are you better now?” comes Wonwoo’s velvety voice, bringing Minghao out of the stupor he was in. Opening his eyes and finding he could somewhat see now, Minghao nods, still trying to make out the shapes in front of him. He could no longer hear the sounds of the heartbeats, and something in him laments the loss. He would hear it again the next time he transformed into his half-fae form of course, but Minghao always missed the extra senses and enhanced perception of the world around him that came along with being a faerie.

“Somewhat,” Minghao coughs up. He tries to move, only to realize he was laying in the bed Junhui had been previously sleeping in, covered with a blanket and restrained by Mingyu’s limbs which were weaved in between his own. “How long was I out?”

“An hour or so,” Junhui answers, the older boy was sitting next to Wonwoo on the edge of the bed. Minghao can hear Mingyu’s soft snores beside him, and the Chinese male resists the urge to laugh at the sound. “The blood stopped sooner this time though,” Junhui comments as he brushes some hair out of Minghao’s face. His eyes still hurt, they felt sore and swollen – though not to the extent of Junhui’s – but there was no longer a pounding headache in his skull.

“That’s good, maybe I’m getting used to this,” Minghao tries. He did want to get better at controlling his power, by practicing it he could soon learn to not take all the pain or injury at once – thus limiting the amount of pain he himself had to face. Or, Minghao had heard from other faeries hidden in the entertainment industry that the pain would lessen after a while before it was only a dull ache.

Their existence was a secret to most, but there were quite a bit of faeries and half-faeries in the world, meaning that they weren’t as rare or mysterious as it seemed. Though it wasn’t outwardly spoken that faeries existed, it was a known fact that everyone knew at least one – even if they didn’t realize they weren’t human. However, Minghao was still told to keep his true blood line a secret, in order to maintain the equilibrium between humans and faeries that was currently set up. It was a kind of “tuck it under the carpet and pretend it wasn’t there” situation, but Minghao knew that if any faerie were to reveal themselves to the public, the world would go to shit. So Minghao ‘hid’ – though all the members and practically the entire company knew he was a faerie. He was sure that any of the fans who were also faeries could feel it too, but, like always, no one was supposed to say anything.

“I hope so, still not letting you practice,” Junhui replies, causing Minghao to pout and feel very much like a little kid being scolded. “Anyways, you need more rest – as do I since you all came in an interrupted my nap.”

“It’s almost night time you were napping for too long anyways,” Wonwoo rolls his eyes but doesn’t protest when Junhui playfully pushes him under the covers. The older boy wiggles his way beside Minghao as Junhui settles in beside him. Looking up at the ceiling and slowly watching the room become clearer as time goes by, Minghao eventually closes his eyes to sleep. He evens his breathing, holding it momentarily as he listens to the silent room. Though he could no longer hear the heartbeats around him, he realizes, with a content hum, that their breaths were still in sync.

**Author's Note:**

> If it's not clear because I wrote this at like 1 AM, Minghao is a half faerie. Faeries exist in this world but they look like humans unless they change to their faerie form in which usually just their eyes change colour but sometimes they're entire form will change (i.e. wings and all that jazz). Each faerie has a special power they specialize in and Minghao's is healing... Also faeries exist almost everywhere (like 1/6 people are faeries?) but no one talks about it so it's hush hush but not really. In Seventeen though Minghao is the only faerie.
> 
> I don't know honestly, this just wouldn't leave my head so I wrote it but I'm looking at it and literally nothing happens whoops. I quite like the start of this universe I've set up so maybe I'll write more on it or expand it... sometimes in the future... probably not.
> 
>   
> Hope you're smiling!  
> 
> 
>   
> ~ alateni  
> 


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